Registered: Aug 2009
Location:
Posts: 207

Hi everyone. I was on this board a couple of years ago. At that time I was thinking about getting a coonhound and getting started in bench shows and maybe other competitions. Unfortunately, I had to wait because of military obligations.

I am in the Air Force Reserve. I was enlisted, but I got commissioned and had to attend officer training school and other training. It took forever to get me a date so I had to put everything on hold for a while. But, I am all finished with the training and am back home. Now my reserve commitment is only one weekend a month and two weeks a year.

With that behind me, I can now focus on other things. One of those things is entering into the world of coonhound events. I have recently bought a house with a big backyard with a chain link fence. I am so excited to finally be in a position to get a coonhound! I already own a beagle. I had originally thought about doing beagle events, but coonhound events are a lot bigger in my area so there is much more opportunity.

I have several questions. First, does anyone live close to the Paris, Texas area? I would love to find a mentor who might can help me with training, etc. I am primarily interested in bench shows, but I would love to have a dual purpose dog who is good on the bench and in the woods. Second, what is the best way to locate a top breeder? I want one within driving distance of where I live. When I pick my puppy, I want to actually go look at the litter and choose. I know that people get puppies shipped from a long way off, but I want to go and bring mine home. I have decided on a walker.

As I said, I have a beagle. People who have owned both, are beagles and coonhounds a lot different in temperment? My beagle is really an all-purpose dog. She is so enthusiastic about hunting, but then she is just as enthusiastic about sleeping in my bed. She likes being my baby and my hunting dog. She is so loving but is also very stubborn. I'm actually a little concerned about her getting jealous. She likes having me to herself. One time I had gone to a foxhound kennel and petted the dogs. When I got back, she smelled them on me and acted as if I had been cheating on her!

I'm very excited about doing this. I hope to get my coonhound within the next couple of months. Any advice would be most appreciated.

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Registered: Nov 2012
Location: Laurel, IN
Posts: 1478

Your best bet is to find someone close to you to hunt with and learn the ropes. I'm sure many people on this board will also give you some good advice.

I do have some good news. There is a very active club in Paris and they are having a hunt on November 9. You can check out their listing here:

http://www.ukcdogs.com/Upcoming.nsf...BB?OpenDocument

If I were you I'd go there and introduce myself to as many people as possible. That is a great way to make friends. You will probably also find someone to hunt with who can teach you a thing or two. Take your hunting stuff just in case, you may find someone to go on the cast with, you just never know.

The local club is a great place to find other people who are active in the sport and willing to help a new comer out.

Good luck! Let us know how it is going.

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: Al
Posts: 3070

Gary Roberson is about 5 1/2 hours from you in menard hes on the bord from time to time he hunts Blues and could probubly give you some good names to conect with .

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Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Clarksville, AR
Posts: 1078

The best advice I can give someone starting out is to HAVE FUN. Never forget you're doing it because you want to, and don't neglect your family to push or promote dogs.
Coonhunting can consume you. Some people try it and never take to it. Some find themselves calling in late to work, skipping kids' ballgames, wearing out trucks and spending tons of money they don't have. If you have a significant other, include them as much as they want, but don't force your hobby on them. It sure isn't for everyone.
Remember that your dog is a dog. Some of the best I've ever had, some of the best I've ever even seen had terrible nights. Before you get too proud of a dog, remember that it will eat feces and have relations with it's mother if given the opportunity. Be honest with others and especially with yourself in your evaluation of your dog. Some make it, many don't. Never, never, never make excuses for your hound. Its a road that has no end. Soon, it'll always be too hot, too wet, too dry, too bright, too windy... You get the picture.
For years, I've had impossibly high expextations for my hounds. There have been years that I've hunted in excess of 300 nights. I've made bad financial decisions, left a lonely wife at home, abused my health, compromised my employment and at times my sanity hunting, and it's EASY to do without even realizing you're doing it.
Theres a ton of specifics that someone can help you with along the way, but the most important thing to me these days is what I said to begin with- HAVE FUN!

Last edited by Cory Highfill on 10-31-2013 at 12:26 AM

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Registered: Feb 2013
Location:
Posts: 81

Go with a friend that has dogs. I ran beagles as a kid growin up and was introduced to coonhunting later but then marriage and having kids and like I told her that ole hound will be here before and after. It makes it Interestng for sure. If u have the time and nobody depending on you. You will have a ball.

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Registered: Sep 2011
Location: indiana
Posts: 236

1. Read the Walk with Wick books. 2. Do not buy a puppy for your first dog. A decent older hound will teach you a lot about hunting and probably won't cost your an arm and a leg. I wish I had done these two things when I first started.

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Registered: Mar 2011
Location: candler nc
Posts: 1404

The best thin for you to do in your situation is to save a good chunk of change and buy a dual purpose hound. Doesn't have to be a dual grand champion because you yourself want to compete with a dog. Find one who has experience in shows as well in competition hunt. Find one who stands great and has a good conformation as well as you physically seeing coons eyes in the tree it's treed on. Everyone wants to buy a puppy and say they trained it, but it is very very very easy to get discouraged in the training process if you have never done it before. A good older dog that already knows what it is doing will teach you way way way more than you could ever teach a puppy on your first attempt. Once you ask 40 different people their ways of training you have 40 different opinions that will confuse you, then once you apply one training method to a new puppy and it doesn't work the first time you will try all 40 different opinions you got and it will just confuse your puppy. Buy an older dog and apply what he teaches you to a puppy down the road that way if the puppy down the road doesn't make it you will still have the older dog to fall back on when you are so mad you want to quit lol. Training a new hound can be fun and rewarding as well as making you aggravated and make you loose interest. Always remember the best training advice is buy a garnin and be persistent with your puppy, if you do something with a puppy once do it 100 times. Training is never in vein even with older hounds. Just like people if you could hit a baseball when you were 11 but you haven't swung a bat for 25 years you'd probably be rusty. Enjoy yourself and your hound.

Ps buy a chain or dog lot 4ft chain link fence is easy for a coon dog to get over if they want to go hunting.

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Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 618

the hunt part is pretty easy.a show dog last about 1-2 yrs
i thank your on the right path find you breeder for a main
stream of pups and learn what will produce start with females
and build something most of us dont have the land to build
what we really want with all the neighbors now days.

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location:
Posts: 1176

If you really want a dog to hunt and show get a pup from hunting bloodlines. Most show dogs have never seen the woods and don't know what a coon is. There are ALOT of hunting dogs that are put together nice and you would have a better chance of getting one that hunts and you can show. Get with some guys that have rasied and trained pups that can tell you what to look for when picking out the best one. Do the same with show people, they can tell you what to look for as far as movement, and conformation. I went down the same road 13 yrs ago I could tell you alot from my failures LOL you can PM me if you would like to know more.

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Registered: Mar 2006
Location: Iowa
Posts: 618

You have some cash best advice on here buy a if not finished a well started hound coon hunting is awesome till u have a dog that won't do much or is nuts and runs like hell all night plus a good dog will teach u more about this sport then anybody ....... Good luck hope find what your lookin for

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Registered: Dec 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 2027

I see everyone has told you to buy a finished hound but havent really explained why.

Most hounds don't finish out to be great hounds. All have faults, in a lifetime of hunting, a gentlemen will be able to count on one hand usually how many really really good hounds he had.

However starting out a really good hound isn't really needed, because your expectations won't be super high.

The problem with getting a pup, is training a pup to tree coon and do it well, is a very long and drawn out time consuming process with a lot of ups and downs. That is to even say if it ends up treeing coon. The second problem is more then likely you will make a lot of mistakes and even if it is a good hound, it will probably develop quite a few bad habits, that you didn't catch early because you didn't know what to look for. Finally it helps to have an older broke hound to hunt the pup with when it is required to further the training of the pup.

Lastly the biggest reason is you will become attached to the hound, and then more then likely because of all the reasons stated above, you will have a hound, that you will not be satisfied with but cannot get rid of because of your emotional attachment.

Also if you went out and bought an 8 week old pup today you wouldn't be able to hunt for at least another 6 months.

You should be able to find a broke dog, that trees coon for an affordable price that has a glaring fault, that you wont mind. Either doesn't have a good mouth, or hunts to close, or is only 50% accurate, however is still capable of treeing plenty of coon. All that being said, before even shopping for a hound, I would try to find someone locally to hunt with. They should know where the clubs are, meet some hunters go on some hunts. Find someone you would consider a friend and can be trusted, they will be able to set you up with a dog that you like, and hopefully keep you from getting ripped off.

The biggest thing that hurts this sport in my opinion is that new hunters have a bullseye on there back due to there inexperience, because so many guys buy to many dogs, then they sit in the kennel, and become poor mannered, terrible hunters, and full of poor habits. If your patient and get to hunt with a dozen or so different hounds, this should give you enough experience to avoid buying junk.

Coon hounds are a lot like bass boats in my opinion. There is a lot of junk out there, there is also different boats/dogs or line of dogs, for different tastes that , hunters have. There are so major differences in walker lines, that effect temperent, hunting styles, looks, voice etc etc. The best way to find out what your prefer, is to try out several different types of dogs, that other hunters own. Chances are whatever dog you decide to like, you also will like the hunter/breeder. If you get a bad vibe from either, there probably is something to it.

Being that your a first time hunter, you will probably enjoy a hound that minds well has good sense, and is well mannered. Be sure to keep this in mind when buying dog.

Best of luck to you! Its not the easiest sport to get into , but once you get your foot in the door, and make a few good friends, it gets a lot easier and a lot less confusing.

Last edited by Fisher13 on 11-03-2013 at 05:14 AM

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Registered: Dec 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 2027

p.s. There will also be a lot of equipment,gps, vet bills, feed, a kennel to build. Proper planning, will help avoid some stress.

You can probably tell, I have done all of these mistakes, and did everything ass backwards. Hopefully you can avoid some of the mistakes I have made, and avoid a few head aches.

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Registered: Dec 2010
Location:
Posts: 1202

My advice like some have mentioned is do not get a pup. A pup is like a lotto ticket only you have to wait until they are 1-2 years old before you can scratch it off. Go hunting with a lot of different people. Figure out what style of hound you want. Then look for one between 5-7 years old and buy the one you want. To lots of people buying a finished hound sounds to expesive but it will save you $ in the long run. You can buy a really nice hound 5-6 years old for 2500-3500 dollars and that sounds High but lets run the #'s on training a pup.

Cost of a well breed pup 200-300$
shots up until 1 year 150$
feed until ready to start 150$
gas to start one well about 30 hunting trips at 3.50 gallon do the math. Could spend 700-1000 hear
papers ss and ukc 100$
then a 70% chance your pup does not make it repeat the proccess for another 1500$ this happens 2 times you spent 3000$ and may not even have a dog that will ever tree a coon.

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